USA Cycling is showing live video of the Elite Cyclocross National Races today. The Women’s race is at 11 AM MST and the Men’s race is at 1:15 PM. Colorado Springs own Katie Compton will be racing for her 8th National Cyclocross title.

The past several years one of the first cyclocross races in Colorado was the put on by Pikes Peak Velo at Bear Creek Park in Colorado Springs. This year though Colorado Springs hasn’t had a cyclocross race yet. However there will be 2 races over the next few weeks.

The first cyclocross race is the Fall Back Cross Race this Sunday November 6th at the USA Cycling office. The first race starts at 8 AM and the last race is at 3:36 PM. There will be kids races and a Strider Cup for toddlers in the afternoon. There is also a first-time women’s category for those that want to try cyclocross without the intimidation factor. Find more Fall Back Cross info here.

The 2nd race is being put on by Pikes Peak Velo on Saturday, November 19th but it’ll be at an exciting new venue this year instead of at Bear Creek Park. It will be held at the historic Rock Ledge Ranch and part of the course goes into Garden of the Gods. You can read more Rock Ledge Ranch cyclocross details here.

With the cyclocross races coming up, Pikes Peak Velo is putting on free cyclocross skills clinics at Rock Ledge Ranch the next 3 Wednesday evenings – November 2nd, 9th, and 16th from 4:30 until dark. Practice going over barriers, getting on/off bike, carrying the bike, running up hills and of course…running out of breath! Head over to Pikes Peak Velo to get the details.

The Front Range Cyclist Show is this Saturday. It will be held from 9:30 AM until 4:30 PM at the Norris Penrose Event Center (1045 W. Rio Grande St.). There will be many exhibitors from bike component makers to trail advocacy to local bike shops.

I will have a table set up so come say Hi. I’ll have UltraRob.com jerseys, t-shirts and stickers available.

The past 2 years the show was called the Peak Region Cyclist Show. The name has changed because Jon Severson and David Pico that put on the show and published the Peak Region Cyclist parted ways last year. With Jon once again putting together the show, I expect it to be another great event.

After the show, there will be a fundraising event at King Chef to benefit the Missing Link trail. $10 will get you all the Bristol beer you can handle and part of the food sold will benefit Medicine Wheel. Medicine Wheel will be building the trail over the next couple years to connect Barr Trail to the Cheyenne Canon area. They will need plenty of volunteers and donations to make it happen. They will also be at the show so you can find out more about that project and their other projects.

The first Pikes Peak Velo cyclocross race of the season was Saturday. It wasn’t even close to cyclocross weather with the high well into the 80s and the course was dry and dusty. You can find results here.

Here’s a funny video about cyclocross. I’ve seen it before but thought I’d post it since cyclocross season is starting. It seems that cyclocross is continuing to get bigger in the US.

For those that aren’t familiar with it, cyclocross is a from of bike racing that takes place during the fall and winter. The race courses can be a mix of dirt and pavement. It’s also common for there to be plenty of mud. Traditionally there have been barriers where riders dismount and run. Over the last couple years, the barriers have started going away.

The bikes look similar to road bikes but have more clearance for the tires. This allows for wider tires and also keeps the mud from jamming up as bad.

I raced a lot of cyclocross back in the early ’90s and even raced National Championships in 1992. Back then it was little known in the US and it has become much more competitive.

Below is video from the 2009 Colorado State Cyclocross Championships. It brings back many memories of racing in snow and having trouble staying upright.

Peak Region Cyclist created a nice video of the 2nd Annual Peak Region Cyclist Bike Show. I knew I didn’t see everything but there’s several things in the video that I didn’t see. They used several of the photos I took of the bike show in the video.

Race results can be found on the ACA website by clicking here. We had good turnout although racer numbers were down slightly from last years first race. I’m not sure why but maybe it’s because the cross schedule is getting fuller.

There was lots of good racing action all day. It was cool and overcast most of the day. It finally rained a little during the SM 4 race. About half way the final race, SM 3 and Singlespeeds, the rain really started coming down.

There were a couple spots that were causing crashes. One was the sharp off camber right turn along the parking lot. The other one was the turn at the short, steep drop after the straight section with the start/finish. There also was a crash at the start of the SM Cat 3 race. I made a video of the crashes from some of my photos.

Next Pikes Peak Velo cyclocross race is November 21st at the same location.

Cross Vegas Elite Men Top 3

Jamey Driscoll

Chris Jones

Jonathan Page

In the Elite Women’s race, Katie Compton started hard and soon only Katerina Nash could stay with her. A few laps in, Nash crashed in a corner and never got close to Compton again. Kelli Emmett, racing with a broken hand, fought Georgia Gould hard for 3rd place but ended up coming away with 4th.

Today was the 2nd day of the Outdoor Demo at Interbike. As expected it was much busier than the first. More people meant more waiting to get demo bikes to ride. Tomorrow Interbike moves inside.

Electric Assist Bikes from Kilowatt Bikes

Although I don’t see myself switching to an electric bike any time soon, I wanted to check them out. The electric bikes vary from small amount of assistance to ones that seem closer to mopeds.

I noticed the Kilowatt Bikes because they still look like bikes. The Commuter requires that you keep pedaling and the electric motor will turn off if you miss a couple pedal strokes. The Cruiser allows you to completely quit pedaling and let it do all the work.

The batteries take about 4 hours to charge. You typically can go 30-50 miles on a charge depending on how much pedal. I enjoyed riding up the hill on a cruiser bike passing guys on tricked out bikes. I can see these bikes being great for people wanting a way to get around and aren’t serious cyclists.

Specialized Epic Marathon 29er

I rode the Specialized Epic Marathon 29er. I really wanted to ride the S-Works Epic but it was a good wait to just get the 29er. In a way though I’m glad I rode it since it’s the first time I’ve ridden a 29er on a rough trail.

Unlike some of the other 29ers I’ve tried in parking lots, the Specialized Epic felt like it fit well. On the open smooth trails, the 29er felt big but rode nicely. Like with the Moots 69er, the steering felt different because of the large front wheel.

Once I hit the rocky downhill, I really didn’t feel comfortable being up higher. When I’d go over drops, it felt like I was having trouble keeping my weight far enough back. Of course it could partly be because I’m not used to it but I’m not ready to more to a 29er.

Because I still like riding a hardtail, I like the Specialized Epics because the brain makes them feel like a hardtrail most of the time but the suspension becomes active when needed. Today I got more trail riding than I’ve been able to on my other test rides of them and I still like the suspension.

Van Dessel Cross Bike

I took the Van Dessel Gin Trombones cross bikes out for a spin. The frame was a size too big so I was reaching a bit on it. Even with the frame being too big, it handled nicely in loose gravel. It was stiff when I got out of the saddle.

Kenda Tires

When I stopped by the Kenda booth, I noticed a tire that looked like a semi-slick but with more aggressive side knobs than most semi-slicks. It’s the first one in the photo above. It seems like a great tire for the Leadville 100.

The tire is still a prototype. The rep said it should be available by the end of the year. He’s pretty sure it’ll make it to market but it could get some changes before then.